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"Chips Report" from Week 10 Packers Loss vs. Eagles

Our weekly "Chips Report" will always include two blue chippers (outstanding, exceptional play), two red chippers (good, though maybe not great) and two cow chips (dud performances). From the Week 10 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles...

Blue Chips

Wide receiver Jarrett Boykin––In one of the few bright spots for the Packers in Sunday's loss to the Eagles, Boykin caught a team-leading eight passes for 112 yards. It was Boykin's second 100-yard receiving game since his role has been increased following the injury to Randall Cobb. It makes sense that Boykin was able to build a rapport with Scott Tolzien as two players who began the season on the scout team together, now thrust into the spotlight. Boykin displayed strength and determination on several catches, refusing to go down easy and fighting for yards after the catch.

Defensive lineman Datone Jones––Jones has come on strong of late, notching two sacks in a game where nearly all the pass rush came from the defensive line while a hobbled linebacking corps failed to generate much pressure. Jones has now accumulated three sacks in the past two games while playing almost exclusively in the Packers' subpackage defense on passing downs.

Red Chips

Tight end Brandon Bostick––It was the fourth consecutive game Bostick has seen action since Jermichael Finley went down with an injury in the Browns game on Oct. 20, but the first game he's had so much as a single reception. Bostick got the monkey off his back and not only grabbed three passes for 42 yards, but took one 22 yards for a touchdown. While he's yet to show he can fill the shoes of Finley, Bostick is the one tight end on the Packers roster who can make make plays in space and has anything resembling speed. His role continues to expand and did a nice job picking up the blitz lining up in the backfield as an H-back.

Offensive lineman T.J. Lang––Lang came into Sunday listed as questionable, coming off the concussion on Monday against the Bears, but he turned out to be indispensible. An injury to Evan Dietrich-Smith forced the Packers to make major changes to the offensive line with Don Barclay shifting to right guard and Marshall Newhouse stepping in at right tackle. An injury to Barclay later forced undrafted rookie Lane Taylor into action. For someone who has never played a single play at center, even in preseason action, Lang was a steadying force, especially with a backup quarterback under center. The situation was a turnover waiting to happen, but Lang didn't allow that to occur.

Cow Chips

Packers safeties––Both Morgan Burnett and M.D. Jennings contributed to reasons the Eagles racked up 204 rushing yards, each missing a tackle that cost the Packers yards. Even more costly, however, was their pass coverage that resulted in points on the scoreboards. Burnett tipped the first quarter 55-yard pass to DeSean Jackson in the air, allowing Jackson to cradle the ball for a touchdown and later got beat on a double move from Cooper on a 32-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Jennings was guilty for a bad angle and allowing Cooper to get behind him for a third-quarter touchdown pass from Nick Foles.

Offensive lineman Marshall Newhouse––In the fourth quarter with the Packers down by three scores, Newhouse had costly mistakes on consecutive plays that helped limit the Packers to a field goal instead of getting into the end zone for a touchdown. The first was allowing Eagles linebacker Vinny Curry to shoot by him for sack and a loss of eight yards. Newhouse then was called for a false start that turned second-and-18 into second-and-23. He also failed to engage a blocker that resulted in a one of several batted passes by Tolzien.

Brian Carriveau is the author of the book "It's Just a Game: Big League Drama in Small Town America," and editor of Cheesehead TV's "Pro Football Draft Preview." To contact Brian, email [email protected].

Maybe if he improves his decision making. In this game he made 2 terrible, flat out TERRIBLE decisions that cost INT's! How you could chose to draw anything out of his 2 TERRIBLE decisions is beyond me. He was put in a difficult situation to be sure, but that doesn't excuse POOR decisions!

wow., you really are spoiled, Stretch
A kkid in his first game, off the practice squad, no reps with the first team
..the second throw was a late, but, under pressure, and Jones actualy stopped on the route. The first wasn't a bad decision but a poor spot for a throw. If this was 1986, we'd say he was the best looking Packer QB prospect since Starr.

It's time for a change at DC. Let's see what Winston Moss can do. He's done a great job with the ILB's. Caper's refuses to do anything innovative in the 4th Quarter. His prevent bullshit has failed over and over. It's not the only reason the lost today, but it comes up in the reasons for losses over and over. It's never going to get better with Capers as DC.

I made this comment on the blog today, following on someone else's point.

Other than the last 6 weeks of 2010, can we really say that even half of Dom's 6 years as DC have been good? Clearly, 2011 and 2012 were worse than mediocre (32nd in yards, anyone?).
In prior years, the TOs generated masked many of the deficiencies, but now that we are getting zero turnovers, that masking is over.
I will grant that for 2013 he should get some slack due to a few of the injuries, but it is more how he is getting out-schemed, consistently. Trestman treated him like his bitch. Kelly did the same. If Weeden and Ponder were not SO bad, I think Chud and Musgrave would have done the same.

There is a reason Capers gets fired in Carolina and Houston, folks. Because he has about a 2 year shelf life, and then after that, the league figures him out. It has happened again in GB, but unfortunately, the 6 week run in 2010 has masked it, and given him 3 extra years he did not deserve. (and note how I left out 579 yards against SF last year, and darn near that many by the NYG in 2011).

It is time, Ted. And if MM cannot bring himself to fire Dom, then maybe, just maybe, consider moving on MM. Just sayin'.

Hey fellas...I predicted (to my family) that the story of this game would be the defense, and furthermore, that Capers would be the scapegoat.

My knowledge of football is amateur. I completely understand the frustration with Capers.

Still it brings to mind the eternal question...is the success of a team more about the players than the coaches, or the other way around?

What's Bellichek without Brady, Phil Jackson without Jordan, etc. You get the idea.

I am inclined to say I am with the angry mob on this one. Capers defenses for the Pack, have at times been beyond horrible: the Cardinals playoff game, the San Fran playoff game, giving up more passing yards in a single season in the history of the league, and so on.

I think after last years' playoff loss I felt this would be Capers last shot.

What strikes me is how CONFUSED the secondary looks so often. This leads me to believe he has players OVERTHINKING, and that his scheme is just too insanely complex.

The teams that shut down top passers seem to be able to man up on receivers, and rush four guys a la Seattle and KC.

Can anyone provide insight?

And if us average fans can see this, how do we see the light and McCarthy and Ted don't? When do they come to Jesus and cut ties with Dom?

Or do they just believe they need to "make corrections" and go out and draft the right guys???

Enough is enough with this D, but what is the fix in the big picture????

Watching the SF Carolina game and the Panthers D is making up for a struggling offense. They might not win but this game is an example of how the defense sometimes needs to rise to a level that can overcome a poor performance of offensive players. A shut-down defense makes it possible to survive poor QB play.

Brian, can you list GB's defensive statistic rank for the last three years. Don't know what MM and TT see in Capers with the results that I am able to track. This has been a bottom third defense and even in 2010 were only able to perform based on getting turnovers. In corporate America, he would be escorted to his car.

No mention of Mason sh*tting the bed on two kicks? I'm very surprised. Sure, our offense played like crap, our secondary played like crap, and the officials blew a ton of calls, but Mason left 6 points on the field. Not only that, but we also gave philly good field position after both misses.

Pass coverage? What fn pass coverage would that be. Another game with receivers running wide open with no one near them, missed tackles after the fact.

You can't bench any of these guys because they are all the same ted thompson mold: smallish, slow, and cannot cover but they are cheap.

Shiels could not cover a sneeze. He slips around all day and funny, I did not see an Eagle slip at all but he seems to slip all the time when trying to make a tackle.
I don't give a shit what anyone thinks, this is the worse pass defense in football bar none. Want to beat the packers, pass pass pass or run wide. they have a problemo with that also

Capers is going to be given passes for the same reason Shawn Slocum has been given passes: they were Super Bowl winning coaches.

I know it sounds trite, but Capers defense is what led the team to that Lombardi Trophy over that six-game win streak at the end of the season. Those turnovers didn't just come in bunches, they came at the exact right times to save games, over and over.

Has our defense looked anything like that since? Of course not. But you're going to need to build a heck of a case to justify firing the DC that essentially intercepted its way to a Super Bowl.

Yeah, I mostly agree with you. A couple of years ago everyone was screaming that Slocum be fired, but now is anyone? No...

The reason. Players have to make plays.

However, defense is different then special teams. And my biggest problem with Capers is that he has not been creative like he was when he first got here. He seems to go conservative way to often and it seems like a lot of the same problems are happening over and over.
I do agree that he won't be let go, but I really do wonder if his days are limited.

Also to be fair to him. How much better would this defense be with a healthy Clay Mathews, Nick Perry and Casey Hayward?
Maybe give the guy some slack because of what he has had to work with.

You nailed it. There's rarely any creativity. Could that be attributed to players not executing as is suggested quite often here? Possibly, I guess. But with some creative blitzes and coverages it could actually take some pressure off the DL and DB's.

And yeah, the conservative stuff is inexcusable. Any NFL QB is going to tear up your coverage if you give them long enough.

That is my biggest problem. the lack of creativity.
When Capers first came here, remember when the defense was having problems with TE's, he employed the Big Oakie. Used 3 ILB's and removed a safety. Well maybe do something like that again. Use Lattimore, Jones and Hawk, and get rid of Jennings. Hell Lattimore is probably as fast as Jennings anyways.

Also he used to use the Psycho package to create confussion. When is the last time we have seen that?

I don't know what has happened but he 'HAS' to start changing up his defense and get them into better situations and become a lot more aggressive. Blitzing isn't the answer all the time, but creatively blitzing can be the answer.

Also changing the scheme around to fit the players would be a pleasant sight.

Ah, I miss the psycho package. I miss DB's coming out of nowhere to hit the QB. I miss the cool delayed blitzes he'd do with the LB's. Wait for the 3 down lineman to eat up the blockers then have the ILB shoot the open gap. Sometimes two ILB's stacked so one takes the RB and the second one gets the QB. I miss that stuff.

How bad were the refs today? I mean they were bad for both sides to be fair.

But what exactly is Pass interference? Isn't it when a defensive player interferes with a WR's ability to catch a pass? So how was it for one play a penalty but not on the other 3-4 that should have been called. One of which was to James Jones and would have been first and goal at about the 3 yard line.

Also, I thought that when a defensive player jumps off sides and is to the QB before he gets the ball that they stop the play so he doesn't hurt the QB? I thought Tolzien took a bad hit when the play should have been whistled dead long before the player got close to him.

TT will decide Capers future not MM. I'll be surprised if theres not a meeting in Teds office in the morning. Somethings gotta give. This defense isn't getting it done. WTF the secondary was supposed to be deep and really good.

The running back for the Eagles, Le Sean McCoy, is a beast. He looked both quick and fast and very tough to bring down. I give credit to McCoy for the problems with the run defense. Still, on paper GB's run defense ought to be pretty good, and sometimes it is.

Missed half the game today (too many guests and distractions) but I saw some of it and I saw the replays. Not sure if its the coaches or the players. I think a ball-hawking CB (like Chicago's Tillman) or a Safety who can intercept the pass might transform this defense. Looked like Foles just chucked the ball up figuring it will be either a completion or the DB will drop it.

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